What Could Be Better than Pursuing Happiness?

Walk through Times Square in New York City, and you can’t miss it. The place just screams pleasure. The lights. The noise. The people. It’s a stimulation overload. Crowds go there to be entertained. And why not? After all, Times Square represents the happiness-seeking passion of the United States, a nation founded on the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It’s in the founding DNA; it’s in the lifeblood of Western culture that we have the right to pursue pleasure on our own terms.

If you ask most Westerners what they want for their children, they’ll immediately tell you they want their kids to be happy. What better goal could there be?

Is Happiness the Best Goal?

This is the storyline we’ve been given, but it falls short for several reasons.

The first is hedonic adaptation. What’s that? Think of it this way. When you wake up in the morning and you have your first cup of coffee, you get that wonderful buzz. But if you have another later in the morning, there’s less buzz. Then, if you have a third cup in the afternoon, there’s no buzz. What’s happened? You’ve adapted to the coffee. You’ve gotten numb to it.

It’s the same with happiness. No matter how much we stimulate ourselves with pleasure, we become numb to whatever has made us happy.

Happiness studies show that whatever makes us happy—a new job, a new car, or a new romantic partner—gives us an initial burst of pleasure. But that burst of happiness lasts one or two years (if we’re lucky) before we’re back to where we started. We just get numb again.

You see it in the New York tourists. When they first arrive at Times Square, their eyes light up. They’re so happy; they jump, clap, and laugh. They take selfies and upload them on social media. They say, “Look at me. Look at how happy I am!” Then, after a while, they stop and think, “Huh, is this all there is?” They become numb to it all and walk away.

Another reason the happiness story falls short is what we call the hedonic fallacy. This principle says that just by chasing happiness, you’re guaranteed not to find it. That’s because happiness is ephemeral; it’s always the by-product of something else.

Chasing happiness is like chasing the rainbow. The rainbow always fades before you find it because it’s only a by-product of the sun. If you want to find a rainbow, perhaps you should be chasing the sun instead.

Something Better than Happiness

In a National Public Radio interview, a woman commented on parents who tell their children they just want them to be happy:

Be happy. I mean, if your parents tell you to get a job and make a certain amount of money, you know when you’ve achieved those things. But be happy? How are you supposed to know? It just makes you constantly question. Am I happy? How about now? Am I happy now?

She described how chasing happiness trips us up. But if running after happiness doesn’t make us happy, what should we be chasing? In Luke 9:23–25 (NIV), Jesus says,

Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?

Jesus says, “Chase me,” and he doesn’t promise us happiness. He says, “Take up your cross and follow me.” Pursuing Christ entails sacrifice, even hardship. Why would we want to do that? Because studies show that suffering, if it’s purposeful, will make us better people.

No matter how much we stimulate ourselves with pleasure, we become numb to whatever has made us happy.

Viktor Frankl, a Holocaust survivor, tells a story of two women. One woman is born beautiful and rich, but at the end of her life when she thinks of all the money, parties, and flirting, she realizes she had no purpose. Because she was self-absorbed, she dies empty and unfulfilled.

A second woman gives birth to a child with profound disabilities, and she has to care for this child her entire life. It’s a hardship, and she struggles to understand the purpose in it. But when she looks back at her life, she says, “My life is full of meaning. . . . I have done my best—I have done the best for my son. My life was no failure!” This woman ends her days fulfilled, because she lived for the sake of another. She lived for a story bigger than her own.

If we only live for ourselves, we’ll end up bent, curved in on ourselves, twisted, broken, and distorted. This is what the Bible calls “sin”—to fall short of the glory God designed us for (Rom. 3:23), to turn our backs on God’s bigger story for us. That’s why Jesus says, “Follow me.” He wants to be the big story we live for—not just as the model for how to live but as the One who opens the door to God’s great story for us by paying the penalty for our sin and giving us his new life.

God’s Bigger Story for Us

Imagine going to New York City but only seeing Times Square. That would be sad, because there’s so much more to New York. For example, you could see the Statue of Liberty with its story of freedom. There are museums with stories of art, culture, and creativity.

If we chase happiness, we won’t find it. But if we chase the Son, he’ll fulfill us, and we just might find happiness along the way.

But imagine if you had a reason to be in Times Square—a purpose or calling that took you there. Perhaps to see a friend, to demonstrate for a just cause, or to serve others and make a difference. Now you have a bigger story.

Jesus says, “Follow me.” Surrender to his bigger story for your life. Live for Jesus, and bring his love, mercy, and justice to this planet. Yes, there will be suffering. Yes, there will be hardships. Yes, there will be sacrifice. We may lose our lives, but we’ll gain so much more.

That’s the irony. By chasing rainbows, we won’t find them. But if we chase the sun, we’ll find rainbows. It’s the same with happiness. If we chase happiness, we won’t find it. But if we chase the Son, he’ll fulfill us, and we just might find happiness along the way.

News Source : https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/pursue-happiness/